The government’s ban on some Muslim women wearing traditional overgarments in schools was upheld by France’s top administrative court on Thursday. The court also rejected claims that the ban was discriminatory and might foster hatred.
The government of President Emmanuel Macron declared last month that it was outlawing the abaya in schools because it violated the laws governing educational secularism.
Muslim headscarves are already prohibited because they serve as a sign of religious affiliation.
A Muslim advocacy group requested an injunction against the ban on the abaya and the qamis, its male equivalent dress, at the State Council, France’s highest court, for complaints against state officials.
A Muslim organisation claims that the ban could increase the risk of discrimination.
The group claimed that the ban was racially discriminatory and might fuel anti-Muslim sentiment.
The State Council, however, rejected the arguments after deliberating on the motion—filed by the Action for the Rights of Muslims (ADM)—for two days.
It stated that wearing an abaya “follows the logic of religious affirmation” and added that the decision was based on French law, which forbade anyone from showing any outward signs of their religious affiliation in schools.
No significant harm’
According to the government’s statement, the ban did not “significantly or obviously violate” the principles of non-discrimination, religious freedom, the right to an education, or respect for individual lives.
Before the decision, the Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM), which was created to represent Muslims before the government, had cautioned that outlawing the abaya could lead to “an elevated risk of discrimination” and said it was thinking about bringing its own complaint to the State Council.
It stated that the lack of “a precise definition of this garment creates ambiguity and legal uncertainty.”
Vincent Brengarth, the attorney for ADM, argued during the court proceeding that the abaya ought to be regarded as a traditional garment rather than a religious one.
He further charged that the government was using the ban to advance its political agenda.
Sihem Zine, president of ADM, claimed that the rule was “sexist” because it “targets Arabs” and singles out girls. However, the education ministry claimed that the abaya was against France’s secular culture because it made its wearers “immediately recognisable as belonging to the Muslim religion.”
Numerous girls were expelled from French schools on Monday for refusing to take off their shoulder-to-toe overgarments, or abayas, on the first day of the school year.
According to Education Minister Gabriel Attal, nearly 300 girls defied the ban.
The majority consented to changing, but 67 did not, according to him, and were sent home.
The State Council overturned a burkini ban in a French Riviera resort in 2016, claiming that the long bathing suit worn by some Muslim women posed no threat to the public’s safety.
Approximately 10% of France’s 67 million people, according to estimates from the government, are Muslims. The majority originated in Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia in northern Africa, which up until the second half of the 20th century were French colonies.
